Nick Offerman appeared on Today this morning to promote his new book, Paddle Your Own Canoe. He did the whole interview sitting in a canoe. So did Al Roker and Willie Geist. Canoes. They all sat in canoes. Indoors. In suits. In Manhattan. I know I’m just describing what you can clearly see in the screencap at the top of this post, but I really feel like I need to write it all down or else someone will run in here and take it away from me. I need to document it. For history. This is important.

As far as the meat of the interview, he talked about his mustache and his marriage to Megan Mullally, which are both always fascinating, but the highlight was definitely this exchange:

Offerman: When you make a canoe yourself, as well as the paddle you’re locomoting it with, there’s something very powerful about the defeat of Mother Nature by using our opposable thumbs and cognitive thought.

Roker: A lot of people don’t know that you’re a woodworker. You really build canoes, you build cabinetry… what it is about woodworking that’s so satisfying?

Offerman: Especially in this day in age when everybody lives so much inside of tiny little screens, actually making and doing something with your hands is such a tangible feeling of success and can add a very delicious tone to your day. Instead of getting a high score on some kind of crushing candy game, you can look at a table that you’ve built that will keep your beer from falling to the floor. Which is more noble?

That was delightful. And it also reminded me of the last time I was in a canoe. A hand-built canoe at that. Though not my own hands, a friend’s father built it. But I have a whole new admiration for it now.